Carving Pumpkins with The Shield
by Ablivion
Summary: A late (or early depending on how you look at it) Halloween story featuring The Shield. Dean is spending his first Halloween with Roman, Seth and Roman's daughter, Rachel. Each character carves a pumpkin, and Dean leaves him red faced and embarrassed. What does he carve and how does ice cream figure into all this? Fluff will abound in this fun one-shot!


**A/N: First I'd like to say thank you to everyone who encouraged me to post these stories when I was hesitant because the holiday was over. Thank you! This is my first fanfic that involves Roman's daughter, Rachel, a character I've tried to stay away from. However, I've decided that if I completely make her up (which I have since I know nothing about her in real life) that I don't actually mind using her. Hope you all like my first attempt at it. Feel free to let me know how I did. If it goes well enough, you might see her in upcoming stories. Enjoy :)**

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><p>"Come on Rome, I want to make one throwing up!" Dean protested. He was never fond of not getting his way.<p>

"Ew," Rachel said, her arm elbow deep in her pumpkin.

"I said no Dean. I'm under strict orders here..." Roman said, nearly pleading.

"Exactly, you're under orders, I'm not," Dean replied happily.

"Not the point Ambrose. You make it vomit and I'm the one who gets his head bit off for it."

"I know, that's what makes it even better!" Dean replied, bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation. Rachel giggled at Dean's excited movements, clearly not understanding the trouble he was threatening to unleash on her father. Roman was under strict instructions that there was to be nothing gross or scary in the apartment, and fearing the hell that would be unleashed by his fiancé if he didn't listen, he was sticking to the rules as best as he could. And though it seemed as if Dean was trying to thwart him at every opportunity, in reality, Roman knew that he couldn't have gotten everything done in time for the holiday without the Lunatic Fringe's help.

At first, when Roman's fiancé had told him to spend time with his daughter for Halloween, Roman had grudgingly agreed to his fiancé's list of demands that came with having his daughter all to himself: decorate the apartment, carve pumpkins, and take Rachel to the city fair. The last item, he was thrilled about; he loved spending time with his daughter. The other two items, with his hectic and tiring schedule, he could have done without.

However, the laundry list of chores became a lot more manageable as Dean threw all of his energy into helping. For someone who had never had a real Halloween before, Dean seemed like a seasoned pro. It was Dean who'd made the full graveyard on the front lawn. Dean who'd strung out fake spider webs over the front door and windows, taking time to painstakingly place little plastic spiders in the webs one by one. He'd even decorated Rachel's room with all the princess Halloween decorations he could find. Whatever Roman hated doing, Dean was more than happy to take over and make his own, sparing Roman the task.

"Ambrose, why don't you make a nice pumpkin here, and then we can make one throwing up tomorrow at the hotel?" Seth asked, breaking the tension of the standoff between his friends.

Dean paused to consider the offer, weighting the pros and cons. He wouldn't get to see Roman getting his ear chewed off by his fiancée for failing to make "age appropriate" decorations, but he would still be able to make his first vomiting jack-o-lantern with Seth.

Deciding, Dean replied, "Fine, I'll do it your way Reigns, but Seth, you better let me buy a giant pumpkin so I can make a mountain of vomit for it."

"You're so gross Uncle Dean," Rachel squealed.

"Why thank you princess," Dean replied with a dramatic bow that made even a reluctant Roman chuckle.

Laughing as well, Seth nodded his agreement. "Your pumpkin can have as much pumpkin gut vomit piled in front of it as you want."

Pleased with the deal, Dean returned to his pumpkin, suddenly and unnervingly still as he studied its bright orange surface, clearly contemplating a new plan of attack.

Roman and Seth shared a quick smile as they paused in their work to watch the Lunatic Fringe in deep concentration. To both men, carving pumpkins was a boring chore that thankfully came only once a year. For Dean though, who had never once had a pumpkin to carve, this was a whole new experience with something he'd never had before: a family.

"Make a funny face," Rachel said, indicating to Dean's pumpkin.

Dean couldn't resist turning around towards her, his eyes crossed and his tongue sticking out. Rachel giggled in delight.

"Man, I should give my pumpkin that face Ambrose. No little kids would be brave enough to come up to the door and bug me for candy if my pumpkin had a face like that," Seth said, then immediately ducked a handful of pumpkin guts that came sailing towards his head. Roman tried to scowl at Dean for making a mess in his kitchen, but he couldn't quiet hide his smile. He settled for getting things moving once more as he said, "Back to work." Glaring one last time at Seth, Dean returned his full attention back to the study of his pumpkin. Roman simply shook his head as he returned to his own task.

Every year, his pumpkin was the same: two triangle eyes, a triangle nose, and a gaped tooth smile. Rachel gave her pumpkin a face too, marking out all the places with her crayon that she wanted Roman to carve out for her. Seth, on the other hand, took his carving as a serious art form; he came with a collection of drills and tools, all piled on the counter, to help him carve the perfect princess design for Rachel.

Fifteen minutes passed, then half an hour, and everyone was done except Dean who had just finished gutting his pumpkin.

"Man you're slow," Seth said as he stood proudly next to his intricate princess pumpkin that Rachel instantly adored.

"Art takes time," Dean replied, not really paying attention to Seth.

Seth opened his mouth with what would have undoubtedly been a snarky reply, but Roman cut him off with a quick shake of his head. "Alright Dean, we'll leave you to your pumpkin. We'll be in the living room whenever you're done okay?"

Dean simply nodded and waved a hand as he picked up Rachel's discarded pink crayon to draw his design. Roman nudged Seth out of the kitchen as Rachel followed behind them, begging to watch _Mulan_ for the millionth time.

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><p>An hour and a half later, Rachel and Seth were both curled up asleep on the couch, and Roman had oddly not heard a peep from Dean since he'd left him in the kitchen with his pumpkin. Carefully extracting himself for the couch where he had been sandwiched between Seth and Rachel, Roman made his way quietly back towards the kitchen. Peeking his head around the doorjamb, Roman was surprised to see Dean still bent over his pumpkin, his tongue poking out just slightly from the side of his mouth in concentration as his carving knife moved rapidly back and forth. Roman waited until Dean paused his sawing before he cleared his throat to announce his presence. "Hey man, how's it going in here?"<p>

"Okay," Dean said as he turned his pumpkin ever so slightly out of Roman's view.

"Almost done?"

"Yeah, just putting the finishing touches on it."

"Can I see it?" Roman asked, inching closer.

Dean turned the pumpkin again. "Give me a minute to finish, then you can see it I guess," Dean said hesitantly, his face turning a soft shade of pink.

Roman agreed and took a seat at the opposite end of the dining room table, now orange with pumpkin guts. Roman began to play on his phone while he waited, the silence only interrupted when Seth walked in.

"Are you done yet? Your pumpkin better be amazing if it's taking this long," Seth said, running a hand over his sleepy face.

Dean carefully placed the cheap carving knife onto the table and looked up at his friends, a look of seriousness on his face that silently implored his brothers not to laugh at him in his first carving endeavor.

"Can we see it Dean?" Roman asked gently.

Dean looked down at his pumpkin self-consciously, then slowly nodded. Carefully, so as to not sprinkle the blue carpet with orange, stringy pumpkin pieces, Dean turned his pumpkin to face his brothers, refusing to meet their stares as they scrutinized his work.

Curiosity got the better of Dean when, after a moment, no howling laughter met his "grand" reveal. Looking up, he was startled to see that instead of leering smiles, he was met with warm ones.

"Your pumpkin is way better than mine," Seth said.

"Yeah, I agree." Roman added.

Dean was stunned. Honestly, he wasn't even sure if they knew what they were looking at since Dean was not as good of a carver as he'd hoped when he'd first started; Seth had made it look easy.

"You know what it is right?" Dean asked cautiously.

"Of course Dean, it's your family," Roman said happily.

Dean looked horrified at the thought of his family, at the thought of his druggie mother and absent father. Seeing Dean's face, Seth quickly pulled Roman out of hot water. "Yeah, that's me standing there, that's you standing in the middle, and Rome is holding Rachel on the other side right?"

Looks of relief and embarrassment battled for position on Dean's face as it grew more and more scarlet. "Yeah," he said.

"Out of all the things in that crazy head of yours you could have carved, why us?" Seth asked, genuinely curious.

Dean paused to consider his words carefully less they be mocked. "Because I wanted to carve something special on my first pumpkin, and I couldn't think of anything better to carve than my family," Dean replied quietly, his face, if possible, turning another shade darker.

"I think your pumpkin is the best Uncle Dean," came a small voice from the doorway. Bleary eyed, Rachel ran towards Dean with her arms out. Quickly, Dean scooped her up into a hug, using her to block his embarrassment from his friends. "Thanks squirt," Dean said quietly. Rachel, oblivious to what had Dean so worked up, whispered something into Dean's ear that cleared away Dean's self-consciousness and embarrassment, putting in its place a mischievous smile.

"The princess here would like me to announce that we need ice cream," Dean commanded in his best "royal" voice.

"Is that so?" Roman asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked between the two.

"Yeah Daddy. You always take me to get ice cream when I do good, and Uncle Dean made a good pumpkin, so he gets ice cream," she explained with a smile.

"Sounds like she's got a point," Seth added, not saving Roman from this one.

"And does Dean want ice cream?" Roman asked, looking from his daughter to his brother.

"Eh, I could go for something sweet," Dean said with a shrug, trying to hide a smile that Roman rarely saw on his friend's face. So rare in fact, that at first, Roman had trouble identifying it. Was it pride?

Roman made a show of releasing a big sigh before answering, "I suppose you're right baby girl, Dean did well, so he deserves ice cream. Everyone get your coats, it's my treat."

Rachel squealed in delight and wiggled out of Dean's arms, rushing to be the first one to the door with her coat as the three grown men she had wrapped around her finger followed.


End file.
